WISHBRINGER
Wishbringer was Infocom's 16th game (the sixth fantasy story and the second
aimed at the beginner adventurer). It was written by Brian Moriarty.
You are a postal clerk in a small village which is attacked by goons, trolls,
vultures, and the like. You have to find the magic stone of dreams and use
its powers in order to dispose off the intruders...
Difficulty level: INTRODUCTORY
Some special commands you should know:
WISH FOR ADVICE - if you are holding a sea shell you'll receive advice every
now and then.
WISH FOR DARKNESS - you must drink grue's milk before making this wish.
WISH FOR FLIGHT - you must sit on a broomstick before making this wish (and
it will take you always to the Magic Shop)
WISH FOR FORESIGHT - you must be wearing glasses.
WISH FOR FREEDOM - (if trapped) you must eat candy before making this wish.
WISH FOR LUCK - you must be holding a horseshoe. If you drop it or you drop the
magic stone, your luck is gone. If you pick them up again the luck returns.
WISH FOR RAIN - you must be holding an open umbrella and be in open space.
Except for the above items, you must also hold the magic stone. Most wishes
can be used only once.
With this one the game stopped restarting after typing QUIT. It now displays
"End of session" and freezes again!
COMMODORE EMULATOR NOTE: It is not recommended to play any Infocom game on CCS64, since
there is no way to turn off its 1541 emulation and the games load too slow.
On C64S, Vice, and PC64, though, any Infocom game will load instantly and you
will notice no delay for loading new text while playing, making the gameplay
much more enjoyable!
ALSO REMEMBER to answer NO at the Loading-from-a-1541 question, in order to
maintain high-speed emulator loading!
Well, that's all!
Best Regards
Dimitris
Here beginss a transcript of interaction with
Wishbringer
The Magick Stone of Dreams
Copyright (C)1985, 1988 Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved.
Wishbringer is a registered trademark of Infocom, Inc.
Release 23 / Serial number 880706
Interpreter 1 Version F
What next?
>EXAMINE BOOK
This slim volume is the latest issue of Festeron's "Local History Series," a
fundraising venture of the Historical Society. Your eyebrow rises at the title,
The Legend of Wishbringer.
What next?
>READ BOOK
You flip the book open to its title page.
"A Moral History, in Verse,
of the
Magick Dream-Stone
recently unearthed by the
Society of Thaumaturgic Archaelogy,
and commonly known as
WISHBRINGER
including a substantial body
of hitherto unpublished discoveries
regarding the mystick Properties
of said Artifact."
Do you want to keep reading?
[Please type YES or NO.] >YES
"CHAPTER THE FIRST
(Of Morning-Star's birth and great beauty,
and how she was abducted by the evil Queen Alexis.)
It happened in the reign of mighty
Anatinus, King of Misty Island,
that there was born into a peasant home
a daughter, blessed with rare and perfect Beauty.
Morning-Star they named her; and the legend
of her beauty spread through all the kingdom,
even to the court of Anatinus.
There beside the throne sat Queen Alexis,
heavy-hearted. For her newborn daughter,
cursed by fate and prophecy, was sightless.
Loth the Queen to look upon her blind child's
face! And how the baby Morning-Star,
more beautiful and perfect, made her jealous!"
Do you want to keep reading?
[Please type YES or NO.] >YES
"Envy breedeth Evil: Queen Alexis
caused the simple peasant home of Morning-Star
to burn. The sleeping family perished,
all but Morning-Star, who, being rescued
by the Queen's design, became her daughter,
sight restored by Prayer.
(The one true Princess,
left behind to fill the vacant cradle,
perished too, and never saw her mother.)"
Do you want to keep reading?
[Please type YES or NO.] >YES
"CHAPTER THE SECOND.
(Of Morning-Star's coming of age,
and of the many knights who sought her fair hand
in Marriage.)
The years were kind to Morning-Star. Her beauty
blossomed like the fragrant water-lily
into full, abundant maidenhood.
Anon befell here ten-and-seventh birthday.
Anatinus made it known that whosoever
might desire to win the hand of Morning-Star
should now come forth to claim it.
To prove his worth, the groom must first by needs
fulfill a Love-Quest, of the Queen's own choosing,
according to the custom of the kingdom.
Many were the eager knights who journeyed
to the royal palace, hoping there to
win the love of Princess Morning-Star.
Alexis, dark with envy, watched the lusty
swains descend like vultures 'round her daughter,
and vowed in secret not to let them have her.
From the knights assembled, six were chosen,
and stood before the heartless Queen for testing."
Do you want to keep reading?
[Please type YES or NO.] >YES
"CHAPTER THE THIRD
(Of the impossible Love-Quests devised by
the crafty Queen Alexis,
and how the six knights fared by them.)
One brave knight, a lad but one-and-twenty,
was sent across the sea to beg Lord Nimbus,
God of RAIN, to quench the thirsting
Fields of Frotzen. But the God, not sympathetic,
smote his vessel with a bolt of lightning.
The second knight, a weapons-bearer, strong
of limb and nimble, scaled the mountain peak of
Matter-Horn, to seek ADVICE from spirits.
The hopes of Princess Morning-Star fell with him.
A third knight ventured forth to try the fabled
Wings of Icarus, and learn the secret
method of their FLIGHT, to please Alexis.
But alas! The joyful knight, whilst soaring
home to claim the Princess, flew into
the open maw of Thermofax, a Dragon."
Do you want to keep reading?
[Please type YES or NO.] >YES
"Alexis sent the fourth knight deep into the
Mines of Anthar, there to slay a Grue,
and drag the carcass up where all might see it.
But DARKNESS overcame the hapless knight, who,
lost without a lamp, was soon Devoured.
Another knight, the fifth, directed by the
Queen to steal the Cocoa-Nut of Quendor,
chanced upon a lair of hungry Implementors,
and did not FORESEE his peril.
Lastly stood before the Queen a gentle
boy, no older than the Princess. Morning-Star
liked well his beardless smile, and begged her
mother not to test his LUCK too harshly.
But Alexis caused the youth to spend an
evening midst an unclean Cemetery,
from which he ne'er returned; for eldritch vapors
carried him away, and gave no reason."
Do you want to keep reading?
[Please type YES or NO.] >YES
"CHAPTER THE FOURTH
(Of the Edict of Alexis,
the demise of Morning-Star,
and the discovery, many years after,
of a Magick Stone, called Wishbringer.)
Queen Alexis cried, "Is no man
in the kingdom fit to wed my daughter?
Methinks she must remain unmarried, then,
and Virgin all her days." So was it Written.
Morning-Star hoped death might grant
her FREEDOM from the Edict of Alexis,
by her mother's timely passing. But the Reaper
(busy elsewhere with a Plague) heard not her
praying; so Alexis lived, and laughed,
and watched her daughter's beauty fade away,
and all her Wishes dwindle in her bosom.
Many kingdoms after, when the reign of
Anatinus was forgotten, and the
names of Morning-Star and Queen Alexis
lost in Time, there came unto the Misty Isle
a scholar, who, amid the crumbling
tombs of monarchs, chanced upon the mortal
relic of the Princess. All was dust,
except her Heart, which, hard and shrunken
to a pebble in the grave, was shining brightly
with the stifled Wishes of her lifetime.
Thus, the Magick Stone of Dreams discovered."
Do you want to keep reading?
[Please type YES or NO.] >YES
"CHAPTER THE FIFTH
(Of the Seven Wishes,
and what ye must know to invoke them.)
Seven is the number of the Wishes
bound into the Stone; and if ye speak a Wish,
that Wish is Spent, and lost forever. Also know,
that ye must hold the Wishing-Stone
within thy hands to wield its Magick.
Look ye, then, upon the Seven Wishes:
RAIN falls only for the bearer of the Stone
who standeth under an umbrella.
ADVICE may bring wise counsel to the bearer
of the Stone who listeneth to Sea-Shells.
FLIGHT shall bear the Magick-wielder swiftly
home, if ye be sitting on a Broom-Stick.
DARKNESS, blacker than the Night, shall fall
across the land if Milk of Grue thou drinkest.
FORESIGHT lifts the veil of Time, and shows
the Future, but prepare thy eyes with Glasses.
LUCK will bring good fortune, if ye hold
a Horseshoe and the Stone in thy possession.
FREEDOM spring the wielder from confinement,
but mark well that ye first hath eaten Candy."
Do you want to keep reading?
[Please type YES or NO.] >YES
"EPILOGUE
Now ye know the Origins and Magick
of the Wishing-Stone. But know ye also,
bold Adventurer, that every problem
ye encounter in thy travels may be
also bested by the spell of Logick.
Exercise thy Brain, and work thy Wits!
Forget ye not that Morning-Star, a Princess,
who threw away her life in easy Wishing,
died in vain.
Let her fate be thy Warning."
As you slowly close the little book, you notice the words mutato nomine de te
fabula narratur inscribed upon the back cover.
What next?
>UNSCRIPT
Here endss a transcript of interaction with
Wishbringer
The Magick Stone of Dreams
Copyright (C)1985, 1988 Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved.
Wishbringer is a registered trademark of Infocom, Inc.
Release 23 / Serial number 880706
Interpreter 1 Version F